The Comparative Mouse Genomics Centers Consortium (CMGCC) was initiated by the EGP to develop transgenic and knockout mouse models based on human DNA sequence variants in environmentally responsive genes. These mouse models are useful tools to improve our understanding of the biological significance and functional relevance of these polymorphisms in human disease, particularly when validated with controlled exposures and environmental challenges. This program has resulted in the discovery of unique variants in environmentally responsive genes, the development of a number of resources, and capacity building in the environmental epidemiology communities in order to incorporate gene-environment hypotheses and tools into human population-based studies on a number of environmentally relevant diseases. The models developed by the Consortium are being made available to the scientific community through an arrangement with the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)(http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/) for distribution by their Mutant Mouse Regional Repositories(http://www.mmrrc.org) . This Consortium requires extensive collaboration and multidisciplinary research in molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, as well as expertise in mouse genetics and pathology, to achieve the following goals:
Identify relevant and feasible mouse models for development by the Consortium;
To identify mouse models that are relevant to human environmental health; and
To validate developed mouse models that are relevant to human environmentally induced disease.